NAME: Betway South Africa
STARS: 4.7 out of 5
WEBSITE: http://www.betway.co.za
ESTABLISHED: 2006
LOCATION: South Africa
PROPRIETORS: Raging River Trading (PTY) LTD
LANGUAGE: English
LICENCE: Western Cape Gambling & Racing Board
MIN/MAX DEPOSIT: R10/R1,000,000
MIN/MAX BET: R5/Variable
DEPOSIT OPTIONS: Betway accepts Absa, Capitec, FNB, I-Pay, Investec, Mastercard, Nedbank, OTT, SID, Standard Bank, Visa.
WITHDRAWAL OPTIONS: You can withdraw from Betway via Absa, Capitec, FNB, Investec, Mastercard, Nedbank, Standard Bank, VISA
SOFTWARE: Proprietary
PROS:
- A wide range of betting options
- Attractive welcome bonus
- Secure, wide-ranging transaction options
- Optimised for Mobile users
- 24/7 live chat
CONS:
- Market options could be wider
MAIN REVIEW:
Betway.co.za is an online sportsbook owned by Raging River Trading (PTY) LTD that piggie backs off the big Betway UK organisation and has quickly established itself as one of Africa’s leading online and mobile sports betting operations.
This not only because it’s website opens with an eye-catching front page that is clean-cut, professional, easy to understand and just as easy to navigate – whether you are doing it via a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone – but also because of a host of other important reasons.
BETTING OPTIONS
First and foremost, perhaps, is the wide range of sports bets, including live bets, South Africans can make at always competitive odds without having to stand in queues at a bookmaker’s offices.
The site covers all the major worldwide events in football, Rugby, cricket, golf, tennis, boxing, American football, basketball, baseball and ice hockey, boxing, volleyball and motor racing and gives you a big range of different bets on each event.
Some other international sportsbooks offer bets on a wider range of events within each sport (ie league fixtures and tournaments in minor, far-flung countries), but Betway.co.za has more than enough options to keep the average South Africa sporting punter happy.
TRANSACTIONS
You are also certain to value the high-class digital encryption technology Betway.co.za use to ensure that your transactions are safe and secure and you could say the same thing about the large number of deposit and pay-out options they offer.
For the casual punter who likes to take a stab at a sporting bet now and again, a minimum deposit of R10 can be paid immediately if you do it with a Visa or MasterCard credit card, with I-Pay or with Sid.
However if paid by EFT via OTT or one of six banks, Nedbank, FNB, Standard, Investec, ABSA or Capitec, the transfer could take between 1 and 3 days and the minimum deposit would be R50.00
And the maximum deposit? The big professionals can deposit as much as R1 million, Betway’s website tells us, but the maximum allowed on bets are “variable”.
MOBILE PLATFORM
The mobile interface is as good and as easy to use as the desktop version and has clearly been developed with Africa in mind where the proportion of mobile to desktop and laptop users is much greater than it is in the first-world countries.
On what is one of the best mobile sites in the game, your experience can be heightened by using Mobile Money, which Betway have innovatively integrated into their mobile platform so that you can transfer and withdraw funds instantly without having to worry about waiting for 2 or 3 days for your winnings – or for your deposit to become valid
PROMOTIONS:
Betway.co.za have an excellent, above average sign-on bonus which gives you a matching 125% of your first deposit of up to R1000 and they have been working hard at building up an impressive weekly promotions program offering prizes ranging from cash, ‘Extra Bets’ and smart phones to Grand Prize draws in which lucky customers can win, large money prizes, brand new cars or trips to watch major international events overseas.
One of the promotions they ran for the 2018 Football World Cup is a good example.
It offered a free chance to “to make your selections and predict the ‘Group Stage Winners,’ the ‘Knockout Eliminations’ and ‘Finals Champion’– all to win a grand prize of 10 million Rands.
True, the odds against you winning were huge, but what an exciting competition and what a prize!
CUSTOMER SUPPORT:
Using live-chat, FAQ, email or FICA Support, Betway.co.za players needing assistance have 24/7 access to a support program that has been well received by the customers who have used it.
SUMMED UP:
Betway South Africa is an excellent online sportsbook that operates 24/7 and along with a wide range of betting options on most major international sporting markets, offers some of the internet’s most seamless, enjoyable and easy to use software, especially when it comes to betting on your mobile phones.
Its odds are also very competitive and one of the only criticisms we have of the operation is that its markets are not as big as those of some of the top-ranked international sports books like 5Dimes and Bet6365 and in the longer term it may be worth its while to expand its markets for the man wanting to make exotic bets on some of the lesser-known, out-of-the-way events.